46 PTILONOKHYNCHID,!:. 



(Oivenia acidiila). Just inside the entrance were some siliceous stones, and bits of coloured 

 glass, and in the centre a few freshly picked berries. During my absence from the bower, Mr. 

 McMaster saw one of the birds enter it, but on my shooting in the neighbourhood it flew away. 

 A bower with similar walls was constructed under a large orange-tree in Mr. McMaster's 

 orchard during August and September of i8g8. Four birds frequented the place, but it was 

 impossible to tell how many assisted in the construction of the bower. The decorations 

 consisted principally of small pebbles, with which were intermingled a few bits of white and 

 dark red flannel picked up near the house. Mrs. McMaster informed me that on Millie 

 Station, midway between Narrabri and Moree, she introduced some buttons and marbles 

 among the decorations of one of these play-houses, but they were speedily removed by the 

 birds, several of them being found afterwards on different parts of the run. I have heard of 

 bright coins and other articles, placed in the bowers, being rejected in a similar manner. 



Many interesting evolutions are performed in and around these bowers, more particularly 

 by the males. Standing on tip-toes, with lowered head and the pink frill on the nape erect, the 

 male will run, sometimes sideways, through and around the bower, st()])])ing jierhaps to alter 

 a decoration, or to tiirow up his wing, or lie down on his side. K'unning with drooping 

 wings and tail is probablv the cause why many of the birds of this lamily are found with the 

 feathers of those parts so much abraded. 



The bower figured, which is a fairly typical one, was obtained by Mr. K. Grant at 

 1 Suckiinguy Station. The decorations consist of bones, bits of glass, glass stoppers, seed cones 

 and pods, berries, nuts, shells of the large fresli-water mussel { Unio ncpcamnsis ) and of a fresh- 

 water snail (Vivipara siiprafasciata). The walls at the base measure twenty-four inches in 

 length ; at the top twenty inches, with an average height of eleven inches. \\'idth at entrance, 

 eighteen inches; thickness of walls at base, four inches and a half; distance between the walls 

 inside, nine inches. 



Mr. A. S. Read, of New Angledool, writes me as follows, under date February 19th, 1899: — 

 "The Spotted Bower-birds, or ' Weetah,' as they are called by the aborigines in this district, are 

 very wary if they know that j'ou are watching them, or wish to approach near them by stealth ; 

 otherwise, when feeding on fruit or playing about their bower, they will come within a few feet 

 and carefully examine the buttons on one's clothes. They are very fond of figs and grapes, also 

 pepper seeds. Some Chinese who have a garden near here, shot about twenty of these birds 

 last month as they were eating all their fruit. l"re(]uently one of these birds will sit in a tiiick 

 shady tree, and imitate any bird or sound it hears, crows, hawks, dogs, cats, etc., to perfection. 

 In \ery dry seasons, as in 1S9S, the Spotted Bower-birds rarely breed at all." 



Later on, Mr. Read forwarded to the Museum three males in the flesh which he had shot 

 on the i6th June, and writes: — "The bower of these birds is about four hundred yards from 

 my house. The walls of it are formed of long thin twigs, and there is a large heap of bones all 

 of the same shape (probably vertebrae of sheep) at one end, and a similar heap of glass at the 

 other, with a few nuts and berries in the centre of the bower. There were four birds playmg 

 in the bower this morning, and it grieved me to shoot those I have sent you. It is a pretty 

 sight to see them tossing pieces of glass about and performing all sorts of antics." Two of the 

 males are in beautiful plumage, with very fine and well developed rose-pink nuchal plumes, 

 and are now mounted in the Group collection. The other specimen has only a small square 

 patch of rose-pink feathers in the centre of the nape, measuring 0-7 inch. 



The nest of this species is an open and nearly flat structure, having only a slight depression 

 in the centre. It is formed of dried twigs, loosely interlaced, and has a slight lining of finer 

 twigs, to which are sometimes added a few dried grass-stalks. Usually it is very scantily built, 

 and when occupied the eggs or young are visible through the bottom of the nest. An average 



